Tianjin authorities mobilized over 800 police to crack down on villagers in Tianjin who tried to protect their farmland from being confiscated. A villager called Wang Yilan was punched and kicked by police and had some of her clothing removed on May 11, 2013. (aboluowang.com)

Villagers from Baoyuan Village in Tianjin, China’s third largest city, tried to defend their land from being illegally confiscated, but were brutally suppressed by over 800 police.

Over 20 villagers were seriously injured from police beatings and sent to hospital in the May 11 clash. A female villager was punched and kicked and some of her clothing removed. Even elderly people and children were physically abused.

Mr. Wang, a villager from Baoyuan, told The Epoch Times that after the villagers were notified that construction would be taking place on their land, they waited in their fields for the past two nights.

At around 4 a.m. on May 11, local authorities dispatched hundreds of police to block the roads. Wang said over 100 police vehicles and more than 800 police officers came to the village.

“They clashed with the villagers and beat whomever they saw. I saw more than 10 policemen beating one villager,” Wang said.

When villagers dialed 110 for police assistance, the police refused to come. The ambulance they called just waited nearby and did nothing, Wang said.

If the police saw anyone taking pictures with their cell phone, they would grab the phone and destroy it, he added.

Wang also described several of the injuries, among them Wang Yilan, a woman in her sixties, who had her right arm fractured during a police beating.

“Over 10 people beat her. They pulled her pants off, and laughed about it. Even elderly people over 70 years old and teenagers were beaten. The police were yelling, ‘Hit them, hit hard!’” Wang said.

According to Wang, over 20 villagers were hospitalized, seven of them with serious injuries.

One villager called Ma Shuqi had his ribs broken and his left eye seriously damaged. “His eyeball has come out,” Wang said.

Another villager had his nose fractured. A third sustained kidney damage from being beaten and had blood in his urine, but was detained for over 20 hours before being sent to see a doctor, according to Wang.

The following afternoon on May 12, Xinli police took away a villager named Yu Guoqin. His brother Yu Guoshui was also taken away after being beaten until he was covered in blood. Yu Guoqin’s sister-in-law was beaten until unconscious by dozens of police.

According to accounts by other villagers, when they were surrounded and being beaten by police, the village Party secretary, Shi Chuanjiang, was there, giving orders and yelling loudly.

A source said that the local government expropriated the villagers’ land to build a university in April 2012, but the villagers were not notified and did not receive any compensation nor was there a detailed compensation proposal. The authorities fenced off almost 1,000 mu (165 acres) of land before construction.

The villagers appealed to authorities repeatedly but were told: “This is government action. The expropriation will happen without your consent.”